


when skies were purple and breath was praise

by tuesday



Category: Dwarf Fortress, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dwarf Fortress, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Pre-Canon, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-06 19:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20512385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesday/pseuds/tuesday
Summary: The forgotten beast Smaug came.





	when skies were purple and breath was praise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wafflelate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflelate/gifts).

> A re-imagining of pre-canon in Dwarf Fortress style.

The Lonely Mountain housed a dwarven colony of some renown. Erebor had a royal family, the drawback of its success. It had a treasury filled with gold, jewels, and legendary artifacts. It had twisting passageways and sprawling living quarters and dozens of workshops. It had enough dwarves, domesticated beasts, and assorted items to slow time just the slightest bit, so that every day seemed longer than the one previous. The farming caves were vast. The alcohol stockpiles held plenty. Unlike Kazad-dum, the dwarves of Erebor had not reached deep into the earth in search of adamantine and magma to fuel their forges, but the forges remained lit day and night.

Erebor was a hive of industry. It was not just a good colony, but a great one.

Migrants arrived with every season. The fisherdwarves and novice cheese makers were set to work hauling and given beds in the workers' dormitories. The skilled workers were set up in workshops and assigned personal rooms. The warriors were given space in the military barracks and equipped with newly forged steel armor. All were welcome. All were provided for.

The forgotten beast Smaug came. He was a great red-skinned dragon. He had a pair of sweeping wings and hooked claw hands. He was covered in scales. He skittered and flew. Beware his deadly fire breath.

First, he slew the woodcutters who did not make it to the safety of the fortress gates. Some fought. What blows he did not block were ineffective. Their axes glanced off his hard, glittering scales. With a single hit, he struck down a dwarf, whose head sailed off in an arc. With another, he tore open their lower left leg, opening an artery. A third, he swatted with his tail, crushing their right lung through their steel mail shirt and flinging them toward the mountain in the process. 

Most fled. Those who passed too close in their flight were set ablaze by his flames.

Smaug advanced toward the fortress. The military met him. They spent their days sparring, dodging spear traps loaded with wooden practice spears, and honing their skills fending off goblin attacks. They were equipped with masterful steel armor and weapons. They were legendary dodgers. They were at the least skilled at their chosen weapons, and most were grand masters. They had spent their entire lives preparing for the next balrog. They were ready.

They weren't enough.

Smaug cut through their ranks like a scythe harvesting wheat. Blood soaked the earth. A dwarf vomited from the pain. Limbs were strewn about the impromptu battlefield. Grass, trees, and bodies alike burned. Smaug moved on, leaving destruction in his wake.

Like all of his kind, Smaug was a building destroyer. Doors could not stop him. The drawbridge was drawn back, and he flew over the high walls and deep moat to land contempuously before the main gate. It became scrap metal under his mighty blows. He avoided all traps set before him. More dwarves rushed to meet him as he entered the main hall, haulers and passing workers. These, too, fell before his tearing claws, flexing jaw, and relentless flame breath. The farms caught on fire. The stockpiles of alcohol went up. !!Everything!! was ablaze.

Smaug reached the treasury. He claimed it for his own.

Dwarves abandoned the fortress in droves. Most of the royal family made their escape, more's the pity. The worker barracks were empty. The halls grew silent. The forges went out one by one with no one to refuel them. So ended the first chapter of Erebor in violence, blood, and flames.

But it would not be Erebor's end. Smaug slept. The fortress stood waiting. Someday, dwarves would return.

Someday, Erebor would be reclaimed.


End file.
